Shelby County Commission briefs: 12 election board members OK'd

The Shelby County Commission on Monday approved the appointments of 12 of the 13 members of the Election Advisory Board, a group that would review election procedures and make recommendations to the Shelby County Election Commission.

Citizen members include minister Suhkara Yahweh, who pushed for the board's creation and is advocating paper ballots, and local blogger Steve Ross, who first discovered irregularities with early voting for the Aug. 2 election that resulted in thousands of voters receiving the wrong ballots.

Ross ran against Basar in that election, but their County Commission race was not impacted by the ballot errors.

Last week, the Shelby County Commission suspended Richard Holden, administrator of elections, because of the August election mistakes as well as other problems in the running of the election commission office.

Commission accepts federal grant

The Shelby County Commission approved the acceptance of $146,627 in federal grant money, despite concerns from Commissioner Henri Brooks that funds used in the war on drugs negatively impact inner city residents.

The money was awarded from the U.S. Department of Justice for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance grant program. Byrne was killed in the line of duty guarding a government witness during the "height" of the war on drugs, Brooks said, a war she said re-targets those who are already victimized by drugs in their community.